Can I get in on my driveway?

[Alanjarvis]

With just two weeks to go till I tow my first caravan home Im worrying about if I can get it on my drive. It is fitted with a caravan mover so the plan is to pull up outside the house (quiet road so no problem there) then reverse it up the drive with the mover. However Im not sure if the mover will get it up the kerb. It has been dropped down but its still a bit of 'bump' up, sloping of course but quite steep for 9" or so. What are peoples experience of this? Two other options would be to drive it up the drive with the car, then unhitch and turn it around with the mover (drive is big enough to do this, I think). Or reverse it up the drive with the car (I would need to unhitch, manouver it around with the mover then hitch up again to reverse it on the drive).

Comments and suggestions welcome! I should say its not a big caravan, Elddis Odyssey 432 - 19' long, about 1100kg.

Alan

 

[Douglas_374404558]

HI Alan. your van is very light so you should not have a problem even with the steep start to your drive why don,t you get a couple of bits of wood just to ease the van over the kerb at the start then away you go .OR do as i do if you can just reverse the van over the kerb and up the steep bit then stop unhitch then use the mover the rest of the way ( if you have the room to get through your gates .But i think you should manage the first idea .P.S. make sure your battery if fully charged and remember the movers only go at very slow walking pace ie 2/3 mph if even that. mine is a Reich and i move my van 1500kg no problems up a slight slope for 30yds just give it a try ( all the neighbours will be watching so just give them a wave that soon gets the curtains moving ) best of luck duggie

anymore info get back on here

 

[emmerson2]

Alan, forgive me, but if you've BOUGHT the van, is it not a bit late to be asking this question?

 

[Douglas_374404558]

P.S.Alan if you have trouble getting the van up the kerb if you have the room get the van almost to the kerb then try putting the left wheel up then walk the right wheel up .in otherwords put one wheel up at a time but watch the rear of the van as it will swing from left to right as you walk the van over the kerb

if you understand what im trying to say .or as the wheel hits the kerb put your shoulder against the side that is trying to go up the kerb and give the van a help.ie as you put the left wheel up. the rear right of the van will swing to the right as with the other wheel

cheers Duggie

 

[Michael_374349176]

I have a similar problem in getting our caravan into the garden. Our road is quite narrow, just wide enough for two cars, so I have to un-hitch on the road and then move it with the mover. I am not physically able to move the caravan and so I have a Reich mover fitted. What I do is use a couple of 20mm thick plywood pieces that I have for standing the steadies on when on site. This gives me enough to get up the 60mm or so of kerb. The mover will quite easily take the caravan up the remaining slope of the pavement.

Michael - Derbyshire

 

[Douglas_374404558]

Alan, forgive me, but if you've BOUGHT the van, is it not a bit late to be asking this question?

Emmerson thats some comment to put to anyone were trying to help the guy. notcomment on whether its to late or not to think about it

cheers Duggie

 

[Alanjarvis]

Thanks for the advice guys, yes I will try some plywood to ease the slope a bit and maybe give it a bit of a shove too if it gets stuck. I got lots of scrap plywood in the garage.

I take your point Emmerson but there is no way I can try this out without buying the caravan! The man at the dealership said it would go up no problem, but he is a salesman!

The only real way to tell is to try it out but I just wanted to see what people think. I dont really want to spend hours next Friday struggling with the caravan amusing the neighbours!

 

[Sproket]

Alan

I have to get our Hymer up a 4" kerb & thro a 8'4" gate & the vans 7'6" wide weighing 1600kg & place it 2" parallel to the fence for 30' into the garden

I did not want to go down the dropped kerb route , because my garden slopes back to the house it's bad enough when it's raining heavy the amount of water what runs down,& I didn't want extra water from the road coming in, so I went to a local sheet metal shop & had some alloy checker plate ramps made 300mm long X 300mm wide with a 100mm long lip on the top to sit on the edge of the causeway, they did not cost a fortune, & make it so easy for the climb up into the garden & back out

Mover's are a fantastic bit of kit, without ours I would have to find storage

Good luck & take your time

Sproket.

 

[Jennifer_374461363]

I don't think you will have a problem.

Our current Truma TE mover (which drives 2 of our 4 wheels) will easily get our 1900kg van off the road over the drop kerb (nose first), up our 1 in 10 driveway, and manoeuvre it into place at one side. The drive is only 5 cm longer than the van, but we do have about 1.2 metres extra up the side path and the 2 metre width of the pavement to use too. The drawbar can go up the side path a little and this allows us to get the van about 50cm away from the pavement.

Previously we had a Carver Mover on our 1300kg single axle and it was even better (as singles turn more easily).

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I put our van on the driveway A-frame first Alan. If there are any scrotes around wanting to steal your van at least it makes it more difficult for them.

If you use some wood to lessen the height I think you will find that the jockey wheel will get up the kerb better if going in A-frame first. The downside to this is if your drive slopes down to the house and you have problems with the mover it can be difficult getting your van off the drive. This has only happened to us once though and due to the nature of the mover problem we wouldn't have been able to get off the drive if the van was the other way around.

 

[trucker]

Alan, I dont think you will have a problem getting the van up the pavement and drive. One thing you should do however is make sure the battery is charged up.

We brought ours home from the dealers after some waranty work a couple of weeks ago it had been away 4/5 weeks, it only just made it up the drive very very slow.

Kevin

 

[emmerson2]

Alan, (and Douglas), I didn't mean my post to be offensive. I just questioned the logic!.

Now, regarding Alan's point about not being able to try before he bought, I query that too.

Some years ago, we rather liked the Swift 640, I believe it was, a huge twin axle jobby which compared to our Royale seemed as big as a battleship.This was at a caravan show, and I expressed doubt that the van would fit across our bridge.Whether the salesman was desperate for a sale, I know not, but he offered a deal, which I took up. It was simple-he was to bring the van thirty miles to my house the next day. If it crossed the bridge, we'd buy it if it didn't, we wouldn't. It didn't fit, so we didn't buy, but I had to admire the salesman's courage.I often wonder if he got a b*llocking when he got back with no sale!

 

[602]

Hi,

OT .... but could be related.

Has anyone ever had a problem where the approach angle is too steep? Thats where both ends of the caravan are touching the ground, but the wheels aren't.

602

 

[Phillipcharnwoodforest]

602, I don't get a problem with that, (it would be an interesting one tho') but I get another problem,, i.e. the rear of the van grounding.

The angle of the footpath running up from the road to my drive and then the angle of the driveway running down from the road creating an apex. I have to use a mover because of this, if the caravan is coupled to the car the draw bar grounds at the top of the apex and then when further down the drive the rear of the caravan bottoms as the angle alters in fact levels out and then alters again it dropping away again.

When we many years ago had our spitre alpine I could do it as it was short enough to clear the ground at both ends. We then had a longer caravan and had to put it into storage as it wouldn,t go down without grounding at the top and then again further down the rear.

The incline is roughly a 1 in 4 slope down away from the road so the easy bit is getting it down the drive but it's harder work for the mover coming back out onto the road but it copes admirably with it, it's a Carver by the way and a 100amphr leisure battery.

ALAN I would think that using a "ramp" of wood or something similar to give a slope up to the path level from the road sounds favourite to ensure that you can get the caravan onto your drive without any problem.

 

[forestgump]

get some cheap caravan levelers the yellow wedge shape type use as a ramp then use as levelers on site

 

[MobileMatty1]

Alan,

As other have said, could you put the van on the drive hitch first? (Also goos for security). I ask as the solution we have adopted to get over the initial lip between road and pavement, then the sloped pavement to our flat drive is the

 

[xtrailman]

Alan

A very valid question, despite the unnecessary comment made by ONE person.

I have a 2004 Riech mover, so the new one may perform different.

But they do have limitations. Mine couldn't get up a 2" high flag stone, with out crabbing, not what you want in a limited space, i made a 3 foot long ramp up to it, after that no problem.

That was at the last house, where we live now access is from a narrow road, the only thing i have to ensure is the van wheels are in line with the drop kerb, i also push assist, kinder to the battery and tyres.

A 100 AH is a good idea, just has that bit more reserve than the 85 AH.

Make sure your van battery is set up to charge via the car.

I always reverse in, its kinder to the jockey wheel, but not essential, as for theft, it they what it, they will have it.

 

[emmerson2]

Ray, if that comment was for me, then use my name.

I stand by my comment. A caravan isn't like a pair of shoes. You can't take it back if it doesn't fit, so why not make sure it fits before you buy?

 

[TD42]

Allan, I do not think you will have any trouble which ever way you do it, personaly as I live on a main road I drive the car & van straight on to the drive,unhitch & do a 360 with the van using the mover save's a lot of problems with impatiant drivers

 

[machighlander]

Ray, if that comment was for me, then use my name.

I stand by my comment. A caravan isn't like a pair of shoes. You can't take it back if it doesn't fit, so why not make sure it fits before you buy?

Kleenex incoming.

 

[foshy]

Hi,

We have a Rhyno mover and this gets our Abbey 416 up and across our drop kerb fine. We also live in a quite road, but as soon as I block it with the van, for the time it takes to swing across and line up with the gates the road seems to turn into the M25! I guess this is something we (and our neighbours) have to live with. Good luck.